Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin Awards more than $90K to local nonprofits

(September 21, 2009)  The Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc., which announced its re-formation earlier this year, has issued its first round of grants to local nonprofits, totaling $91,175. The Community Chest was formed late last year after the organization’s Board of Directors voted to separate from the Harford-based United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, resume its original name and affiliate with the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.

This is the first of two planned rounds of grants this year. The application deadline for the second round will be October 15 with grants to be awarded in December.  Beginning in 2010 and thereafter, grants will be awarded in June and December.  Individual grants typically range from $5,000 to $20,000 depending on the scope and type of project, and will total approximately $170,000 annually.

The Community Chest supports programs and initiatives in the health and human service areas by providing program grants, general operating support and seed grants for new programs. The Chest’s first round of 2009 grants will go to:

• Opportunities Industrialization Center of New Britain, $20,000, to support its Bicycling Enthusiasm Program, which teaches career competencies through bike repairs, safety, racing and teamwork.
• Boys and Girls Club (New Britain), $15,000, for Triple Play, a program designed to promote health and wellness for young people ages 6-13.
• Central Connecticut Association for Retarded Citizens (area-wide), $15,000, to support the PEERS (Personal Education and Enrichment through Respite Services) program, which provides participants with opportunities enhance their quality of life by participating in recreational activities they enjoy.
• YWCA of New Britain and Berlin, $15,000, to support STRIVE, an after-school youth development program for at-risk girls in New Britain.  
• New Britain Discovery Collaborative, $10,000, to implement its “Let’s Talk, It Makes a Difference” program to promote language acquisition and vocabulary development among young children.
• Literacy Volunteers of Central Connecticut (New Britain), $9,505, for “Parenting for Academic Success, Family Science,” a project to increase parents’ ability to support their children’s success in school through literacy classes and hands-on parent/child experiences.
• United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, $6,670, to support the budget for the Well Managed Classroom in New Britain’s three middle schools.

Community Chest Board Chair Lucinda Antonacci said the 14-member Board received and reviewed 18 grant proposals and were very aware of the heightened need for funding nonprofit service organizations in this challenging economy. “Our Board is delighted to be in this position of fulfilling the Community Chest’s longstanding history of supporting some of the community’s most vital nonprofit organizations,” she said. 

In addition to these grants, the Community Chest already awarded $20,000 this year to New Britain’s new Osgood Avenue Food and Resource Center as the second part of a two-year, $40,000 commitment to the food pantry.

For more information about grant guidelines and applications, contact Joeline Wruck, Director of Program, for the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain/Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, at 860-229-6018, ext. 307 or via email at jwruck@cfgnb.org.

About the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin, Inc.
Known as the ‘Community Chest’ since its founding in 1919, and most recently as the United Way of New Britain and Berlin, the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin is now a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain. Under this new legal structure, a local and independent Board of Directors will continue to identify and invest resources in programs and initiatives that benefit the New Britain and Berlin communities.

About the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain
The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. Established in 1941, the Community Foundation raises resources and develops partnerships that make a measurable improvement in the quality of life in each of these communities. For more information, please visit www.cfgnb.org or call 860-229-6018.